May 24 Dedication & Your Content Strategy

This month my colleagues have been writing to you about dedication: dedication and your personal brand - dedication to a consistent design aesthetic, and the value of being dedicated to supporting your brand. These are all valuable topics with great lessons for anyone at the helm (or a helm) of their brand. Today, however, I’m here to tell you another story, one that supports all three: dedication to your content strategy. Content is the thing and it exists in the place where you, as professionals, get to express your brand. Whether it’s on your website, your blog, your blog on another platform, on social media or printed content in the real world, strong content is key to your brand’s growth.

However, the other thing about content is that it’s always in circulation and new content needs to be created again and again and again. It’s easy to get lost in the momentum of constant creation and begin privileging production over consistency or quality. This is where things can go awry, but dedication to a few simple tenets can keep your brand afloat.

First things first, establish and commit to a voice. Whether you’re publishing a blog post or writing a short missive on Facebook - keep it consistent. When we launch new projects I write sample bits of content in various different voices and then the team and I choose which voice will resonate best with our audience while simultaneously supporting our brand or our client’s brand. If you’re not sure of your brand’s voice, I recommend assigning yourself some copywriting activities to stretch your creative and linguistic muscles. Then analyze, refine and set a direction for yourself moving forward.

Second: align the visual aesthetic by which you share your content. It’s not all about words. Information is visual and the devices by which we consume information call for visuals. Solid branding means you have invested in a style guide and that style guide should dictate much of your aesthetic, from color, texture, font and even size and shape. Something we did a long time ago was create a series of templates for social media posts. When we prepare new content we plug them into those templates and adjust accordingly. None of this is to say you should be rigid, flexibility is essential to keeping your brand afloat. It’s just that calculated flexibility is what you need.

Let’s face it, there is something deeply enjoyable about reading, seeing, or hearing content from a familiar voice that we enjoy. It builds trust, it becomes relatable, it’s human and accessible. This is what you want to create with your content and dedication to brand consistent content is the way to do that.

Michael loves to connect people with information through technology. As the Information Architect at Markon, he creates strategically-organized, visually-appealing websites and herds (and optimizes) all of the structured data around a brand online. He believes that a website, social media channel, or even Google listing should look and feel like an extension of its brand. The result of which is an immersive digital experience for end users.

Michael loves to connect people with information through technology. As the Information Architect at Markon, he creates strategically-organized, visually-appealing websites and herds (and optimizes) all of the structured data around a brand online. He believes that a website, social media channel, or even Google listing should look and feel like an extension of its brand. The result of which is an immersive digital experience for end users.

we’re all ears

Thinking of taking things to the next level for your own business? Now’s the time. Let us know what you’re planning and we’ll see if we’re a good fit.